1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protective shields and particularly to a makeup shield that is removably affixed under the eye for putting on eye makeup to prevent eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara from falling on the skin below the eyes and on the cheeks; the makeup shield comprises a die-cut patch of material which is curved at the top to fit under the eye matching the curvature of the bottom eyelid, a front of the patch having textured surface to catch the falling eye makeup, a back of the patch having a weak adhesive thereon which is kind to the skin, and a peel-off strip over the entire back adhesive surface which is scored so that a narrow top peel-off strip or two narrow end top peel-off strips may be peeled off and the shield adhered to the skin under the eye, the bottom part of the peel-off strip being left in place so that the shield does not stick to the cheek and does not disturb any makeup on the cheek.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
In applying eye makeup including eye shadow, mascara, and eye liner, there is a problem with some of the eye makeup falling down onto the skin under the eye or onto the cheek to produce smudging of the eye makeup on the skin in trying to remove the fallen particles of eye makeup. Considerable time can be wasted in trying to remove the smudges. If foundation and other makeup has already been applied to the cheeks, the fallen eye makeup can make a mess of that and require redoing the foundation or makeup on the cheeks, and so wasting more time.
There are many prior art eye makeup shields with an elongated handle that a person holds in one hand while putting on eye makeup. Examples of which may be found in U.S. Patent Application Nos. 20060225761; 20050022838; 20040231688; 20030094184; 20020124865 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,873,928; 1,907,476; 1,974,825; 3,789,856; 3,884,232; 4,033,364; 5,016,658; 5,052,417; 5,178,170; 5,311,888; 5,890,499; 5,957,142; 6,199,560; 6,807,970; D119,329; D252,890; D255,606; D254,935; D257,400; D271,530; D316,312; D337,854; D341,001; D423,714; D532,929; and D536,129. A makeup artist or a person putting on makeup holds the device with one hand while applying the eye makeup with the other hand. Often there is a color palette, cosmetics container, bottle or other container which also needs to be held, so holding a shield is a nuisance. Prior art patents have not really found an adequate solution which can be made and sold in quantity easily and inexpensively for a disposable eye makeup shield which does not require holding the shield.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,650, issued Feb. 28, 1989 to Bliss, is for a coverture for protecting a portion of the face from make-up during application of the make-up to the face. The coverture comprises a shield having at least one make-up impervious section and a means for holding the shield adjacent the protected portion of the face during the application of the make-up. Additionally, a method of applying make-up to a first portion of the face comprises the steps of holding a shield adjacent a second portion of the skin to which make-up is not to be applied, applying make-up to the fast portion of the face, and removing the shield from the first portion of the face, wherein the shield has at least one make-up impervious portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,033,691, issued Mar. 10, 1936 to Douglass, provides a face shield which comprises a visor having an adhesive strip and which is removably attached to a person's forehead using said adhesive strip.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,814, issued Nov. 4, 2003 to Burke, shows a mascara application shield and handheld shield holder. The shield holder has a manually-engageable handle on its lower end and a spoon-shaped panel on its upper end. It is curved from top to bottom. The shield holder releaseably holds a mascara shield made of soft, flexible sheet material provided with repositionable pressure-sensitive adhesive. The mascara shield is held under the eyelashes when mascara is being applied to avoid deposit of the mascara on the skin below the eyes. The handle is long enough and curved enough to hold the shield in place when it is positioned by hand, without interfering with the mascara-applying hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,231, issued Jun. 16, 1998 to Leonard, claims a segmental face mask suitable for application to a skin surface of a person's face, the face mask comprising a plurality of facial mask segments of resilient polymeric foam, each segment conformable to at least a portion of the surface of the person's face and including a first surface, a second surface and a shaped peripheral margin, an adhesive attachment, suitable for use on the first surface of each segment and suitable for attaching the segment to the person's skin; and a decoration, suitable for application on the second surface of each segment, for decorating the face mask; wherein the plurality of facial mask segments cover substantially all of the surface of the skin of the person's face.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,687, issued Jan. 14, 1997 to Lajeunesse, describes a facial insulator for restricting heat loss from exposed skin surfaces. In a general embodiment, the facial insulator comprises a support pad having a design surface for displaying a design and an opposed adhesive surface having an edge strip along a perimeter edge of the pad and an insulating area defined by the edge strip as a circumference of the insulating area. A pressure-sensitive adhesive covers the edge strip, and an insulating material is affixed to the insulating area of the adhesive surface of the insulating pad. At least one downstream vent break and at least one upstream vent break are in generally opposed locations on the edge strip for permitting air to flow through the insulating material to remove any perspiration or moisture. A release layer is affixed to and covers the adhesive surface of the support pad. In a further embodiment, the facial insulator of the invention may comprise a facial insulator set including insulators dimensioned in the shape of thin-flesh facial areas such as a nose bridge facial insulator and a pair of upper cheek bone facial insulators, so that only those thin-flesh areas are covered; and the vent breaks of the nose bridge and upper cheek bone facial insulators are positioned along their edge strips to facilitate movement of ordinary air currents through the insulating material, such as air currents passing over exposed facial skin surfaces of a down hill skier.
U.S. Pat. #D467,034, issued Dec. 10, 2002 to Jaggers, discloses the ornamental design for a lower eyelash cosmetology shield.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,260,614, issued Oct. 28, 194 to Freitas, indicates an eye shield of a generally hour glass shape and having a pair of opposed concave end edges. The concave edges are used to shield the eyelids during the application of mascara.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,624, issued Sep. 24, 1991 to Kobe, puts forth a disposable eye makeup shield for use during the application of eye makeup being specifically structured to provide a barrier or protective shield over the lower eyelid and areas of the user's face below the eyes, thereby preventing excess makeup from falling thereon or onto the user's clothing during makeup application. The makeup shield includes a flexible, yet rigid interior body forming a frame structure and having an outer convex, arcuate side and an inner concave side, the interior body defining an overall general configuration of the eye makeup shield. The interior body further includes a lower portion and an upper portion having outwardly extending wings and a top edge being specifically curved and configured to conform with the contour of the user's lower eyelid. An outer layer of substantially porous, absorbent material is adhered to the convex outer side of the interior body and an inner, congruent layer of substantially soft material is adhered to the concave inner side of the interior body, the outer porous material being adapted to catch and substantially absorb makeup falling thereon during application. The lower portion of the interior body includes a grasping area to facilitate holding and positioning of the makeup shield in a preferred position against the lower eyelid.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,389, issued Oct. 23, 2001 to Bakken, concerns a mascara application guard made of a hypoallergenic material such as silicone. It has an irregular shape, and is about 109 mm long and about 52 mm wide. The guard has different sized curvatures to fit the different size of eyes found in human beings. At one end of the guard, a curvature of approximately 25 mm is used for persons having small sized eye sockets. At the opposite end of the guard a medium size curvature of approximately 32 mm is available for persons having medium sized eye sockets. A very large curvature is located perpendicular to the medium sized curvature. This larger curvature is approximately 34 mm in radius. Each of the three curvatures has a raised edge in order to facilitate its use. The guard is used by placing it underneath the lower eyelashes or on top of the upper eyelashes. Mascara may then be applied to the eyelashes. The guard prevents the mascara from also being deposited on the skin underneath the guard.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,850,540, issued Mar. 22, 1932 to Erickson, illustrates a protective shield for protecting the eyes, eyelids, skin and parts of the face adjacent to the eyes during the application of makeup to the eyelashes and eyebrows.
What is needed is a simple inexpensive eye makeup shield which adheres to the face of a user underneath the eye, which shield may be economically die cut in quantity from a sheet of medical tape backed with skin sensitive adhesive and having a multi-part peel off strip over the adhesive, so that each shield peel off backing is scored between a multi-scored top peel off strip and a bottom portion left on the shield to cover the cheek without adhering to it.